Breakers take flight again

The New Zealand Breakers finally have certainty around their Australian NBL pre-season, and are having to move quickly thanks to a little help from their mates at the Wellington Phoenix.

The Breakers will fly out of Auckland on Monday, first south to Wellington, and then out of the capital to Sydney on a charter flight organised by the Phoenix football club as they too head across the ditch to launch preparations for the upcoming A-League season.

They will then take a short hop the next day to Melbourne, where they have been cleared to assemble without a hard quarantine, and be based, hopefully, for the entirety of their pre- and regular season campaign, before returning home to undertake their home stretch in February, border and MIQ requirements allowing.

The Kiwi ANBL club will be joined in Melbourne by AussieDane Rasmus Bach and new import Jeremiah Martin, who were not even able to get into New Zealand to join their team.

‘‘We didn’t have a plan till just a few days ago because there were a lot of moving pieces. Then all of a sudden this solution came about and we jumped at it,’’ a relieved coach Dan Shamir told Stuff yesterday.

The November 1 departure is a little earlier than the club had been preparing for, but right on what

Shamir had initially planned on when it became clear they would again have to spend at least the first half of the season in Australia.

The Breakers open the NBL season proper on December 4 at the Cairns Taipans, and will now play their four pre-season games against the Sydney Kings, Illawarra Hawks, Melbourne United and South-East Melbourne Phoenix beginning November 13.

Three of those warmup fixtures will be in Melbourne, and one across the border in New South Wales.

Shamir said circumstances had

finally worked in their favour around being able to be based in Melbourne, where they have accommodation and training facilities that are familiar.

‘‘There are a lot of factors involved,’’ added the coach. ‘‘A few weeks ago the league said we were going to Launceston, then to Hobart, and then we had to quarantine . . . then we got lucky. The Premier of New South Wales announced from November 1 Australians would be able to travel without home quarantine, and all we needed as a sports team, fully vaccinated, flying on a charter, was to get an exemption. We got lucky and that happened.

‘‘The second thing with the Phoenix being so prepared and organised, they had this plane in place, so we were able to get on there. Then we had to decide where we were going to be based.’’

Shamir said Melbourne only became a reality as recently as Wednesday this week, but was as ideal as it got, given their situation.

One other key thing was different for the Breakers this season. Both Shamir and assistant coach Mody Maor, and players Finn Delany, Rob Loe and new import point guard Peyton Siva are all taking families or partners with them.

Shamir hopes it will make for a much more settled environment than was possible last season.

‘‘I feel very good about that,’’ said Shamir who is taking his wife and children with him. ‘‘When a guy like Rob has his wife and son with him, he can focus on playing basketball.

‘‘But we do have one big issue, and I’m thinking about this guy a lot. Tom Abercrombie cannot bring his family for his own reasons, and I know how difficult it was for him last year.

‘‘We are still dealing with the unknown. I don’t even want to think about a situation where we cannot get home in February.’’

‘‘We are still dealing with the unknown.’’ Breakers coach Dan Shamir